Namco Bandai reports &quot;huge demand&quot; for Ni No Kuni

January might have been light on new releases, but Namco Bandai plans to kick off February with a bang when it releases Ni No Kuni.

The Japanese RPG, a collaboration between acclaimed anime filmmakers Studio Ghibli and Professor Layton dev Level-5, has received strong reviews in the UK press over the last few weeks.

And Namco reports "huge demand" for the game, with strong pre-orders and a complete sell-out for the special Wizard's Edition.

We are thrilled by the reception of Ni no Kuni in the UK," marketing and PR director Lee Kirton told MCV.

"The review scores have not been a surprise and it's been great to see the all types of media showing interest in the title. It's receiving everything from 8/10 to 9.4/10 and 5/5's across the board – it's amazing and the team are very happy. The pre-orders have been doing really well for us.

We are looking at a strong week one and huge demand. We know this is a PS3 exclusive and we've been working hard to focus on the sheer beauty, development talent from Level 5, and animation from Oscar winning Studio Ghibli.

"Pack all that in this 40+ hour adventure with a brilliant soundtrack and you have one of this year's best video game experiences."

Review scored include 5/5 in Empire, 4/5 in The Guardian, 10/10 in MyM and God Is A Geek, 95% from GamesMaster and 9/10 from Official PlayStation Magazine, Eurogamer and Videogamer.com.